Tucson Speaks Out: Nov. 15 letters of the day

No credit deserved

Representative Ciscomani showed up for a photo op at the Apache Generating Station in Cochise on Oct. 30, when the Secretary of Energy announced federal support for the Southline Transmission Project.

When the House approved the $1 trillion infrastructure package in 2021, with a majority of Democrats voting and only 13 Republicans voting in favor, not a single House member from Arizona voted yes.

Given Representative Ciscomani’s predictable, consistent track record of voting with the majority of Republicans, particularly Arizona Republicans, against all Democratic/Biden initiatives, it is totally hypocritical of him to show up as though he supported the bill that will now fund the Southline Transmission Project. Did Ciscomani give any credit at all to President Biden and the Democrats? I think not!

Judy J Gillies

Oro Valley

High school football players

Re: the Oct. 31 article “Lancers’ Rushing chooses Oregon.”

Dear Elijah Rushing and Keona Wilhite (Salpointe Catholic High),

In case you haven’t noticed, the University of Arizona football team has won three games against Top-20 teams this season. The University of Oregon and the University of Washington have individually only beaten two Top-20 teams so far. With regard to academics, as a University of Arizona graduate, I can assure you that an education at UA is an excellent way to go. It just depends on you choosing professors that you like, and courses that challenge you. Please remember, it is never too late to do what you might have done.

Gary Stone

Midtown

Robbins and Rulney should be first to go

Re: the Nov. 8 article “UA president says ‘draconian cuts’ coming.”

The current administrators are the problem. Robbins and his overpriced hire, Lisa Rulney, should both be fired for this current debacle. In a scramble to find more money during the pandemic, Robbins and others in charge stated, “everything is on the table” and said that included selling off the Campus Farm and even the UA art collection. How short-sighted is it to once again talk about selling off invaluable and irreplaceable assets for a one-time cash infusion that will do absolutely nothing for the health of the university? And why should hard-working staff, faculty and students shoulder the burden brought on by incompetent administrators? Perhaps one solution is for the Republican-controlled legislature to start funding our state universities instead of cutting millions of dollars every year from their budgets. If administrators talk about selling off assets, their jobs should be the first to go.

Bonnie Poulos

Midtown

Let’s go to war

Just listened to an abstract from yesterday’s (Nov. 9) Republican debate. The chant was let’s go to war — attack Iran, attack the cartels in Mexico. Oh, that same Republican party isn’t sure about continuing support to Ukraine, a country under attack. But that’s OK, after all it’s only Russia attacking. Seriously folks, any intelligent life left in the grand ole party?

Norman Patten

Midtown

Beautiful capture

Re: the Nov. 9 photo attached to “Tucson voters hand slate of Democratic incumbents a sweep.”

Mesmerizing and emotionally moving photo of Mayor Regina Romero and her mother, Josefina Romero. Kelly Presnell’s photos seized a perfect mother-daughter expression. My compliments.

Lupita Shestko-Montiel

Downtown

Frank Borman

Re: the Nov. 11 article “Apollo astronaut Frank Borman dies at 95.”

Awesome piece on the life and times of Frank Borman. I was fortunate enough to have a conversation with him when he visited Tucson High and I taught in the science department. During our conversation, he mentioned a little-known tidbit about his acceptance to West Point. Apparently, he was so broke at the time he had to hitchhike most of the way just to get there.

Richard Govern

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Foothills

Robbins should resign immediately

Despite Arizona media’s thorough coverage of failing online for-profit colleges, President Robbins and his administrative team thought it was a perfect time to hop aboard this disaster and ride it to its implosion. Faculty concerns that it would tarnish U of A’s reputation as a strong research institution were ignored. Team Robbins was all in. Now that they’ve admitted a $240 million spending deficit (a few months after the Board of Trustees gave Robbins a raise), Robbins is asking faculty to cut budgets, no new hires, and please find ways to generate additional revenue. Some sports will be cut. Exactly what the faculty predicted. The students who attend classes on campus are being asked to sacrifice because Team Robbins thought buying an online for-profit college with high student loan default rates was a good idea. This story is getting national attention and is an embarrassment for U of A faculty, students and alumni. Robbins should resign immediately or be fired.

Dr. Pamela Farris

Oro Valley

Rearranging the deck chairs?

As usual, I see that UA President Robert Robbins had time to attend the U of A Wildcats game at Duke on Friday (Nov. 10) while the U of A’s financial ship is sinking. The Faculty Senate seems to think the captain has been neglectful of his administrative duties and should, perhaps, walk the plank. Maybe, just maybe, if Robbins didn’t spend so much time attending every major sport event, he would have more time to manage the people who manage the U of A’s finances. He has certainly made it clear where his priorities lie. I am waiting for the SPLASH!

Bruce Hilpert

North side

Pious puppets

Re: the Nov. 12 article “Having rights still bewilderingly popular.”

The day following a people’s repudiation of abortion access restrictions, the pious puppets on the right espoused yet again their tired mantra of a federal ban on abortion rights. The hypocritical hysteria that equates ‘life’ with ‘the unborn’ quickly brushed off Chris Christie’s admonishment to ‘look at the whole life’ of a person rather than simply the months in a womb.

Wrapped in their own inflexible morals, the group insists on seeing women as incubators first, wholly functioning individuals second, if at all. The results at the polls made not a dent in the unchanging chants.

Meanwhile, women are voting — men, too — to choose the party that respects an individual’s right to make their own health care decisions.

Beth Isabelle

Northeast side

Blame game

One side says, “An eye for an eye”. The other side says, “Not 10 eyes for an eye.” I believe we all agree two wrongs don’t make a right. Appears the chess game is heading towards a stalemate. There are no winners and losers in a stalemate. Sad to say, many pawns (sacrificial lambs) are lost and being lost. The proxy king on one side, Pres. Biden and the proxy king for the other side, Ali Khamenei of Iran, need to sit down for lunch at the River Jordan and try to reach an amicable agreement. The U.N. could be the arbiter for a State of Israel and the State of Palestine. The religious leaders from both sides represented by bishops could try to reach an accord of peace and love. The Queens just want a motherland. Maybe it’s time to toss out chess, which represents war and Monopoly (greed). Aretha Franklin’s “RESPECT” sounds fitting for a new game. Respect one another’s creeds and cultures. Deal me in.

Joe Sanchez

Marana

Our University deserves better!

A partial list of University of Arizona news headlines:

UA Global Campus fiasco

Banner University Hospital not meeting industry standards

Noted hydrologist Prof. Meixner murdered in campus office

Castro Border Studies and Outreach Center abandoned

Faculty Vote of “No Confidence” in Dr. Robbins

These failures or missteps cost money to resolve. Now the latest news item is the University may not have enough cash on hand to pay its bills. I once thought it was just President Robbins who was ill-suited to his job. Now I realize the Board of Regents is complicit in damaging the University’s reputation. Speaking as an alumnae, I think we, and certainly current students, deserve better.

Marion Smith

Northwest side